Hello yytz,
I have been reading your posts here — thank you for stimulating my thoughts on many topics! I have been mulling over what you wrote above on the discrete issue of abortion. I suspect that doctors treating pregnant women who are seeking rabbinically-sanctioned abortions for life or health reasons are not going to stop the abortions from happening. I can tell though that you seem to think otherwise, and I was wondering if you could explain to me why? Maybe there is some aspect of this situation that I have not considered yet. I had thought that Romney has been supporting exceptions for maternal life and health. I am inclined to think that doctors would interpret “health” fairly broadly — e.g., taking the mother’s emotional health into consideration in a situation where a baby would be born with Tay Sachs, for instance, covering the situations where some rabbis allow abortions due to that condition in the baby.